A Surprise for the Clown Prince
by miamac
Summary: When Maeve is kicked out of her house by her cruel stepdad, she is forced to sleep inside an alley as shelter. However after witnessing a murder the Joker decides to kidnap her, and with a stepdad that doesn't care, will she ever be safe again?
1. Chapter 2

"I'm not intruding," she protested, trying to inch away from the man in front of her, "I was just… asleep." Her arms shook underneath her as she trembled in fear from the criminal she was looking up at. She then nearly hit herself for coming up with such a lame excuse.

"You were sleeping in a cardboard box?" one of the joker's men from behind her asked dumbly.

Maeve nodded, her mind trying to scroll through various details that she could add to her previous explanation that would make it half way plausible.

"It's a project for school, I'm raising money for the homeless and so thought I should try put myself in the situation they would be in," she mumbled quickly, thinking this was the soundest excuse she could think of at that moment.

In front of her, the joker was scratching his head as if wondering what she was going on about. Maeve began to think that it did not matter what excuse she came up with, the Joker on the news killed for fun and that was exactly what he had just done in front of her. She saw him remove the rifle from his shoulder and Maeve gave off a squeak in alarm.

The Joker smiled at her, handing the rifle to one of his gang members and rolling his shoulder as if it was in pain, then bent down to come face to face with the frightened girl. She could see his scars in all their glory now, their twisted form painting an eternal smile on his face.

"You need to…_ relax_ girly, I wouldn't hurt your oh so charitable self, now would I?" He laughed, pointing out how ridiculous her excuse had been before. Maeve decided to pretend not to hear his sarcasm and play dumb, thinking that might get her out of this extremely sticky situation.

"Since we've got that all cleared up, I guess I'll be going then," She said as she jumped up and turned to run from the alley as fast as she possible could. Hoping that he would just leave it at that and let her be. However, her luck in the past should have told her otherwise. She had hardly gone a few steps before she was grabbed by the henchman who had spoken earlier.

"Are you stupid?" The henchman asked as he turned her to face his boss once again, who now had a giant smile plastered on his grotesque face. It was almost as if he was imagining killing her, a knife through her struggling body. The joker ambled towards them, hands in his pocket as he stared into the eyes of his intruder. He seemed to be taking her in, noticing the fact that she had no shoes and just a t shirt on her top half, he also saw her shiver from the cold and her chattering teeth craving warmth.

"So we have a little saint here boys. Maybe we should make a donation to this charity then shouldn't we?" He exclaimed to his gang members with that same cruel smile on his face, "But the fact still remains that you were an eyewitness to one of my… shows. And four dead bodies is better than three… the more the merrier." He was now reaching for a knife he had held in his pocket, the blade although quite small had a razor sharp edge and Maeve could already imagine the damage he could do with it.

"You can't do that," Maeve stammered, trying to pull herself away from the strong arms of the gang member. He held fast as the joker chuckled at her comment.

"And why is that?" He asked her, wondering what stupid excuse she would come up with. He always took pleasure in seeing what people could come up with at their most terrifying moments.

"I have rich parents," was her first excuse, but she was quickly cut off as he chuckled.

"I don't care about money," he replied, staring at his reflection in the flat part of the knife.

"We're a very tight knit and protective family, they would hunt you down and-"

"And I would kill them," he finished for her. He did not seem to be so interested in what she had to say any more, which frightened Maeve. After smiling at his own distorted reflection, he stopped staring at himself and cleared his throat roughly, before looking at her with grim eyes. She screamed as he walked right up to her and grabbed her face roughly with his hands.

"Are you quite done little one?" he stated simply as he kept his right hand tight around her chin and menacingly flipped the knife in the fingers of his left hand.

"My parents are close personal friends with the Batman," She shouted before she could stop herself. Immediately he stopped flipping the knife and looked at her with a look of both curiosity and menace.

"Is that so?" he asked simply, licking his lips quickly.

"He comes around a lot, obviously not in his bat suit but it's him all the same," she said slowly before adding, "He would probably take my murder personally, me and him are quite close."

Maeve wondered when she had gained the ability to lie so easily. Her mum had hated lies of all sorts, which Maeve had always thought very hypocritical since she herself had always been a frequent liar before her death. After that it seemed when Maeve had been made to move in with Malcolm she had just needed to lie a lot so as not to get hurt. She realised that at that moment it could be saving her life – or postponing her death.

"Interesting," the joker muttered under his breath as he thought about what she was telling him. If this girl did indeed know the batman then she could be very useful to him. Obviously she could easily be lying, but then again she sounded very convincing, he guessed there would be only one way to find out.

"Tie up her hands and bring her with us boys," he shouted to his gang members as he turned his back on them and skipped towards the mouth of the alley.

"Wait, what?" she asked stupidly as her arms were tied up with a rope of some sort. She realised her plan had backfired when two of the henchmen began pulling her towards a black Volvo that had appeared at the front of the alley.

"Let me go! Leave me alone!" she screamed as she was pushed into the back of the car and two gang members sat down on either side of her. She trembled as she saw the joker grin back at her from the driver's seat of the car.

"What's wrong girly? Just be glad you're not dead," he laughed maniacally before slamming down the breaks and tearing down the road.

Maeve tried to stay as still as possible as the car sped down Gotham's streets, trying as hard as she could not to slam into either of the henchmen on her right and left. Besides herself and the joker they were the only other two people in the car. She wondered where the other gang members were, because she was sure there were at least three other people with them in the alley before. _Probably going to dispose of the bodies_, she thought to herself glumly as she stared out of the window to her right. Just ten minutes before, that small family had been alive and happy, a huge future ahead of them to look forward to. She felt herself tear up as she remembered the look of horror the little boy had on his face as he had stared at his father's dead body, and then down the barrel of the joker's gun.

Maeve had narrowly escaped facing the same if not a worse fate… but only due to the lie she had told. She shuddered at what he would do to her once he realised what she had said was not true, making up her mind to try escape as quickly as possible.

They had been driving for around thirty minutes before they reached central Gotham. At this point, the joker began driving the car towards the east of the city, driving away from the busier area of the city and into a more quiet area that was still as industrial as its central counterpart.

Finally, the car was stopped in front of what looked like an old theatre. It gave off the impression that it may have been quite an expensive one in its day, gold paint still evident on its front. An old dilapidated large sign still hung over red doors, which had long ago been boarded up and locked. All over the glass of the old doors were torn posters for shows of years past, with titles such as 'Othello' and 'The importance of being earnest."

The man on her right, who she had taken to calling 'the big guy with the cool hair', as his hair was dyed a dark black with blue streaks mixed in, got out of the car slowly. When he got on the street he stretched his legs as if just a short car ride had cramped his overworked muscles. The guy on her left, Maeve had realised earlier in the car journey, was the guy who had accused her of being stupid, and she had not yet figured out a nickname for him. Just as she was thinking of what to call him, she saw the big guy outside reach in and grab her by the arm and pull her out with him.

"Be gentle," she grumbled as he shoved her in the direction of the theatre entrance, he simply growled back, keeping a hold on the collar of her t shirt.

The Joker was busy fumbling with a large number of keys on a tiny keychain, seemingly try to find the right key to fit the lock of the theatre door. Maeve smiled to herself at the humorous scene before her, this dangerous criminal not being able to open the door to his own lair.

"Finding something funny?" the joker asked dangerously as he found the right key and managed to open the door. She shook her head quickly, realising she had to be careful none of what she was thinking would show up on her face.

He frowned and walked into the theatre, waiting for the others to follow him in before he swung the door shut behind them. The big guy let go of her arm as he fumbled for the light switch, and a few seconds later a bright glaring light lit up the room.

The room they were in was an entrance into the grand theatre, where they would have sold tickets if the theatre were up and running. There was a grand red carpet running beneath her feet and the entire place smelt damp and musty.

Once again, big guy grabbed hold of her arm and led her into the actual theatre, and Maeve could finally see the giant stage and rows upon rows of seats. The joker walked down the aisles of seats and placed himself in the very middle of the front row, his feet resting on a footstool that was in front of his seat.

"Bring the girl down Karl," he shouted back to the big guy who then proceeded to grab her arm and pull her roughly down the aisles, not caring whether he was dragging or pulling her down. Finally he stopped her in front of the joker and pushed her onto her knees roughly.

"Watch it asshole," she muttered under her breath as she hit the floor hard. In front of her the joker was staring at her unnervingly, his lips curled into a small smile.

"What did you call me?" Karl growled at her, grabbing hold of her hair.

"Leave her Karl… we need her for now," the joker stated, saving Maeve the trouble of having her hair pulled off at the roots, "I'm afraid we're at a disadvantage little one, you obviously know my name… but I don't know yours."

Maeve decided against telling him her real name, if she escaped he could probably track her down with it.

"Emma," she answered quickly so that he would not have need to doubt her.

"So Emma… if your parents are as overprotective and wealthy as you say they are, I would give them say, till this afternoon for them to call up the police and for your photo to be all over the news. What do you think?" he asked her, leaning down to be closer to her.

She gulped in dismay at hearing this, because she was ninety nine percent sure her stepdad would not even go to the police about her disappearance… and if he did it would be in a week, not a few hours.

"That sounds just about right," she answered, giggling uneasily.

"And until then, all you have to do… is be a good girl, understand Emma?" he said dangerously, taking his knife out of his pocket and flipping it in his hand. This was a habit that was terribly unnerving to Maeve, making her imagine the damage he could do with that one small object.

All she could do was nod, and was surprised when he got up and pulled her up by the shoulder and walked her towards the right end of the cinema. Here, he grabbed some rope that seemed to be just lying around and tied her already bound hands to a seat and then pushed her into it abruptly. Then he turned his back on her and strode back into his seat in the centre of the theatre, picking up a T.V remote control and switching on the news before turning to smile at her.

"Just be good little one," he shouted across to her, turning towards the T.V screen.

Maeve shivered by herself, she knew she had only a few hours to get out of the Joker's grasp. A door slammed behind her as the rest of the joker's henchmen walked in. There were around seven of them, not counting Karl and the guy who had called her stupid… Ten men including the joker, probably all of which would not even hesitate when it came to shooting her.

She watched as they walked towards the joker and huddled around him in a tight group, every once in a while a few of them turning around to look at her oddly as if they were talking about her. After a few minutes of this, the joker leaped on to the stage with one swift movement, and turned to look at the very end of the theatre where Maeve saw a group of teenage boys had walked in. They could not have been more than a year or two older than her, and Maeve wondered what they were doing there.

The Joker motioned for the group of boys to get on the stage with him. Here, he divided them into groups of two and picked two from the front, pulling them into the middle of the stage.

"Let the games begin!" the Joker shouted, picking up two long wooden poles from the floor and throwing them to each of the boys.

"Wait what?" One of the boys stammered, staring down at the pole in his hand, "No one mentioned any of this before. I just want money… I don't wanna kill anyone."  
"The only way out of this building alive is as one of my henchmen, and there's only one spot on my team up for grabs. I'd get a move on if I were you," the joker replied, jumping back down into his seat.

The boy stared at him in horror, the pole still in his hand. She could almost see his dark brown eyes tear up but was shocked when he suddenly jumped for the other guy, about to hit him over the head with it until the other guy blocked, pushing him back.

"Dude what the hell?" the guy shouted, trying to push the brown eyed boy away from him with all his might. The two of them were locked in what seemed like a tie, neither of them willing to give up as they pushed against each other with the poles. Maeve gasped as the brown eyed boy fell to the ground as if beaten, and as soon as the other guy were about to hit him over the head, he rolled over and pulled him down by his leg, before jumping on top of him and raising the weapon above his head.

"I'm sorry," the brown eyed boy mumbled just as he brought the wooden stick onto the other boy's head.


	2. Alone on Gotham

Maeve stared down at the ground as she waited for the bell to ring. It was the last lesson and she had been listening to her teacher going on and on about the structure of a plant for what seemed like hours. It _could _have been hours for all she knew, because there had been no clock in her classroom since a guy she knew had thrown it out of the classroom window. After that, none of the people in her class had ever seen a replacement, and were even considering buying a new one themselves.

That was the problem with Gotham High… It was a low budget run down public school that no one seemed to care about.

She smiled to herself as the bell finally rang, a low buzz that filled the classroom – even the bells did not work properly here. Completely ignoring the teacher in front of them, everyone in the class began packing their things quickly to get out of the dump they had nicknamed 'Gotham's hell hole' as fast as they could.

"So what are you up to this weekend?" Her friend Matt asked her as they walked out of the classroom and into the hallway. Here they joined the lines of other students eager for freedom.

"Um…This and that," Maeve answered, not wanting to say that she doubted she would be allowed out at all.

"Well, my parents are going to be out tonight so I'm having a little get together. Nothing big, just a few friends with some music and drinks," he explained quickly, "You could come… you know, if you want to."

At this point they stopped as they had reached the front of the school. Here they could really take in the city atmosphere that was central Gotham. Maeve grimaced at the lack of trees, and multitude of cars, basically the complete absence of oxygen. She turned back to Matt, whose pale blue eyes were waiting expenctantly.

"I'll try my best to make it… but not making any promises," She replied, smiling at him. She had had a crush on him since she had started there a year ago, always liking his pale blue eyes and wavy black hair. After hugging him goodbye, Maeve silently began walking the mile downtown back to where she lived. She hated walking home, not exactly living in a great area she always felt unsafe as she walked the dark streets.

* * *

"What do you mean Mark has decided to leave?" The joker's voice rang out in the large room him and his men were currently situated in. He had just been informed that one of his gang members had become fed up of this way of life and had decided to make a run for it. The Joker did not take kindly to retired gang members. Once you were in the joker gang, you were in it for life, the only way out was death.

"All his stuff is gone and we found a used up bottle of black hair dye in the bathroom," The gang member named Karl informed him cautiously. Unfortunately he had drawn the short straw and was forced to tell this small piece of news to his boss. The other gang members stood at a safe distance away from the two, listening intently to what they were saying. The Joker was known for his random angry outbursts, and none of them wanted to be his latest victim.

"And none of you had the intuition to see that this was going to happen? Absolutely none of you?" he turned to the rest of his gang, who were beginning to back away slowly, "You all see him almost all the time and yet none of you could tell that he was about to just up and leave?"

With that the Joker began to giggle slowly, although everyone in the room knew he was far from happy. His dangerous laughs were known even more than his mood swings.

"Well I guess since none of you are competent enough to see something so simple, I have absolutely no use for any of you," The Joker continued, putting his hand on the machine gun that was sitting on a small table.

"Boss, wait!" The gang member named Logan called out, "We'll track him down, we won't just let him back out on us."

The Joker turned towards Logan, a dangerous smile plastered on his face as he thought over this proposition carefully.

"Hmm, reasonable," he mused, "and we wouldn't want him to leave us without saying goodbye, now would we boys?"

With that he burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, grabbing the machine gun and walking out of the door with his men following close behind.

***

Maeve turned the last corner onto her street, she sighed as she began walking towards the tiny house she now lived in. She hated going home, it was not so much where she lived as much as who lived with her. Since her mum had died, she had been placed in the care of her stepdad, it sounded like a cliché, but they did not exactly see eye to eye.

As she opened the front door, she glanced around the living room and was ecstatic to see nobody seemed to be home.

"Is anybody home?" she called out, when no answer came, she smiled happily. It was not everyday that she got to spend some alone time, most of the time she was in a constant fear of terror or anger when she was at home. She slipped off her boots and bag and decided to have some relaxation time to herself.

She had been lounging on the sofa for fifteen minutes, blissfully watching T.V, when the door slammed open. Maeve instantly jumped up, but not fast enough for her stepdad Malcolm to see.

"Typical. I work all day slaving my way down at the store and you're here sitting in my spot on the sofa, doing absolutely nothing!" He yelled, slamming his bag down to the floor and stalking to where she now stood.

"I just got home from school, I was about to go upstairs and-"she stammered before she was cut off.

"Did nothing of what I told you when you first moved in get through to you?" He continued, staring her down angrily "This sofa, is MY sofa. That T.V is MY T.V, and if you know what's good for you, you'll respect my property."

With that, he pushed her onto the hard floor and slumped down onto the sofa, turning on the news. The Joker's maniac face grinned at them both as the news reporter spoke about some other terrible crime he had committed. It seemed you could not go a day without hearing about the clown price of crime.

Maeve held back tears as she walked into the kitchen. Malcolm had made it perfectly clear just how he felt of her when her mom had died. Before that he had been as sweet as sugar cane, never raising his voice to her, and not even thinking of hurting her in any way. He began to show his true colours when her mom got ill, and got even worse when she died and he was given custody of Maeve. Malcolm had then told her that to him, she was merely an intruder in his house and would be treated as such, he would not let her use the T.V or computer and was lucky to even sleep on a small fold out bed. She had to make her own food and earn her own money, which was why she could hardly ever afford to take the bus home. All in all, he hated her and she returned those feelings.

As soon as she opened the door of the fridge she heard her stepbrother Callum come in, he dropped his battered backpack on the kitchen table and shoved her away from the open fridge.

"What's your problem Baker?" Maeve asked angrily, calling him by his last name as she always had.

"Shut up Midget. I'm hungry, I'm tired and unlike you, I have a life and somewhere to go to tonight so I gotta be in tip top form," he stated as he glared at her. Unlike her stepdad, he had made his feelings clear to her from the moment they lay eyes on each other, but her mom had never paid attention to her protests towards him.

"Actually I do have somewhere to go, not like it matters to you," Maeve shouted angrily, deciding right there and then that she was going to Matt's house tonight.

"But it matters to me," She and Callum both turned to find Malcolm standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking at her with a furious look in his eyes, "You're working at the shop tonight, and we close late on Friday nights, you're not going anywhere."

Callum smiled at me in triumph as he stalked to his room in victory. This however made Maeve want to go out all the more, she had not been out properly in weeks because of the stupid clothes store.

"It's just one night… I promise it won't happen again, can't Callum work there just this once?" She asked nicely, trying to appear to his goodside.

"When I took you in I told you that you would have to earn your keep in this house. Either you work there tonight or you go out and you don't come back," he threatened, although I knew deep down that in the end that was not true.

"You can't mean that," She continued, he turned to her with anger written on his face, but she continued nevertheless without taking notice of the warning signs, "It's not like anyone comes in on a Friday night – or any night for that matter."

"What did you say?" He growled, stalking towards her and grabbing her right arm fiercely, "Are you saying the store does not have any customers? Are we not good enough for you any more?" As he spoke he slowly twisted her arm, she could not believe she had actually said that. She thought it was true but she did not actually mean to say it, she wondered what had come over her to say something so stupid.

"I didn't mean it in that way… I meant that maybe we get more business during the day when I'm not there." She said quickly, finally screaming as he slammed her into the wall and grabbed hold of her neck.

"You know what? I'm sick of your constant demand for things. Always going on about how you want to watch T.V, buy more bread or that you want bus money to go to school. Well, if what I've graciously given you isn't enough, then you can just leave," With that he began dragging her out by the hood of her jacket towards the front door, however she slipped out of the jacket and fell back onto the floor.

"No please I don't mean it I swear, I won't complain any more. I'll work at the store tonight, just please don't kick me out, I don't have anywhere to go," I pleaded with tears in my eyes at the prospect of being stranded outside this cold December evening. Through the window she could see the wind buffeting against trees and grey clouds forming in the evening sky.

However he would take none of it as he now he grabbed her by her hurt arm and opened the front door, pushing her down the small houses' front steps. She cried out loud as she landed on the pavement, grazing her knees and palms.  
"Don't even think of coming back here, or I'll really give you something to cry about," And with that he slammed the door, leaving her to fend for herself in the cold winter air.

***

"Boss, we have word that the runaway has been seen in downtown Gotham, apparently he's starting up a family there," Karl told the joker who was sitting at a large table, staring at an assortment of guns laid before him.

"Excellent!" The Joker shouted as he jumped up with a determined look on his face, "Tell the boys to pick a weapon and to get hunting… We're going on a little hunt tonight, and we're not coming back empty handed."

With that he picked up a rifle and examined it carefully, imagining all the havoc he was going to be causing that night, and a particular life he was going to be taking. Nobody escaped the Joker.

***

Maeve had only been out on the streets for an hour and already she was shivering and could hardly feel her toes. Obviously, her stepdad had not given her time to put her boots or jacket back on before he had chucked her out, and her socks did nothing to help the coldness in her feet, of course, the holes in them probably did not help.

She decided that if she was going to be staying out here, she should try find a place to sleep, so she turned into a small alley to her right. In it she found a large trashcan and several cardboard boxes that seemed empty. Slowly, she settled herself into the largest one and closed the part that was open to the alley, she did not want to be found in a cardboard box all by herself.

Maeve wondered what she was going to do as she sat by herself, still feeling as if she was slowly freezing to death. The box she was in helped to shelter her from the cold but did not warm her up in any way. Also, she began to realise just how hungry she was since the last thing she had eaten was a sandwich at school as she had not had time to eat anything at home.

She made up her mind to stay there the rest of the night and then try to talk sense into Malcolm first thing the next morning, she was sure he would let her back in if he thought she had learnt her "lesson" by staying out all night. She thought about going to Matt's house so that she would not have to feel cold or hungry, but did not want anyone asking awkward questions like why she had no shoes or jacket. Also, Matt lived on the other side of the neighbourhood, and it would take her ages to walk there.

Just as she was thinking all this, she heard the footsteps of a few people walking down the alley in front of her.

She stared through a gap in the box and saw a young couple, holding hands with a young boy who was in between them. They all three looked happy as they walked blissfully together as a family, and Maeve tried to remember a time when she too was as happy as the boy swinging in his parents arms before her. No sooner had she thought this that she heard a maniacal laugh on one end of the alley which made her hair stand on end.

The man with his family turned in horror as he saw a figure striding towards him confidently, he dropped his son's hand and pushed his family behind him.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" The figure stated, with a slightly high pitch to his voice. Maeve could not help but think that she had heard this voice somewhere before, but could not yet see the person's face as he was standing too far away.

"Please… Just let me go with my family," the young man pleaded, his arm on his wife and son as he backed away with them still behind him.

"Well, you see… I don't like people who abandon their friends. And I always thought me and you were such good friends," he stated, taking a step closer with each of the last three words, "This being the case, I wanted to wish you farewell now that you're leaving…"

"You're letting us go?" The man exclaimed, relief flooding over his face as he heard the figure say those words. But no sooner had he said that, that from behind him his son and wife were pulled away by two people who seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

The two of them seemed to be wearing clown masks, though for the life of her Maeve could not guess why. However, her question was answered as she finally saw the face of the figure who had been speaking before.

She held in a scream as she saw his horrifying face, caked with makeup and his smile carved into his skin by the means of giant scars. The purple suit he was wearing was worn and over his shoulder was slung a rifle.

"I see you've been holding out on me," The Joker laughed as the man was grabbed by yet another man in a clown mask, "Here I was thinking you were just another person who had no family or friends, and yet I was wrong. I see you have an entire family and you never even said a word to me. Please, do share with me and your humble ex co-workers, why this is."

The Joker was now staring down the eyes of the younger man, anger clear on his face as he slowly took the rifle off his shoulder and pointed it his wife's face. She whimpered and tried to struggle but to no avail.

"I just needed some money and you were looking for gang members and I thought it would be alright. I didn't realise I would have to stay in the gang for so long, or that you would be so mad, please don't hurt me or my family," the guy whispered, tears brimming in his eyes as he stared into his wife's scared eyes.

"If you thought I wouldn't be so mad… tell me, why did you dye your hair black? And why just leave in the middle of the night? Without saying goodbye?" the Joker replied angrily, and before the man could answer, he had turned the gun on him and shot him point black. The man dropped to the floor dead, and Maeve let a small scream escape as she saw his lifeless body in front of her. Luckily, no one heard her as the wife and boy both began to cry.

"Goodbye Karl," The Joker stated as he looked down at his ex henchman.

With that, he turned to the wife and son and before they could do so much as plead for their lives, the joker had shot both of them as well, and his henchmen dropped them onto the ground with the dead father's body.

Maeve could not help but let out another scream, this one louder than before and this time she had no one to cover up for her. She hoped that it would go unnoticed, that the Joker and his henchmen would be too preoccupied with the bodies before them to hear her, but of course luck was against her that night.

"Why, hello beautiful…" She heard as she saw the joker's eye staring into the box she was in. She let out a loud scream, hoping someone would hear her, but no one was about that late and she was dragged out of the box onto her knees in front of the Clown Prince of Crime himself.

"Looks like we have ourselves an intruder boys," The Joker laughed, staring down at her, the loaded gun still placed in his hands.


End file.
